There was a policy at Hughes against drinking at lunch, but the men ignored it.

Three events. Three gold medals. I was news, big news, in the sports world.

Traveling to swimming meets took me beyond my small-town existence, gave me a hint of the exciting world outside of my own home.

Victor Mature was a big man; he had a great swagger. I liked him and I knew we'd be good together on screen.

We can't all win Olympic medals. Even I never won one.

Which Esther Williams do you want to hear about?

Widowhood had done nothing to curb my smart mouth. So much for diplomacy.

With two little boys in diapers, I had to keep it simple if I were going to have a life at all.

Howard Hughes himself was a regular at the restaurant, and in a way it became his headquarters, too. Howard had recently relocated to Las Vegas, so when he wanted to do business in Los Angeles, he went into the back of our restaurant to use the telephone.

I never walked the streets of New York hoping to be a musical comedy star. For one thing, they would have thought I was too tall, because l was five feet eight and a half, and they were all little bitty things running around in the studio at that time.

I remember when I first walked into Mayer's cavernous office. You had to walk 50 yards to get to him, and in that time he could really study everything about you.

When you're out of sight for as long as I was, there's a funny feeling of betrayal that comes over people when they see you again.

Clark Gable was the first to have called me a mermaid.

Somehow I kept my head above water. I relied on the discipline, character, and strength that I had started to develop as that little girl in her first swimming pool.

What the public expects and what is healthy for an individual are two very different things.

By the time I got home at night, my eyes were so chlorinated I saw rings around every light.

Everything about my teenage life was almost ideal.

Even though I had a lucrative contract with MGM, I had a husband who was drinking and gambling our money away faster than I could make it.

I took my daily swim at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool despite the presence of onlookers.

I was all in gold sequins for Million Dollar Mermaid, 50 feet in the air.